Buckingham Palace – London

May 1, 2014

The magnificent Buckingham Palace (old name Buckingham House), the administrative headquarters of Monarchs has also served as the official London residence since 1837. It is located in the City of Westminster, Buckingham palace serves well for official events and receptions held by Royals. The palace was previously built as a townhouse for duke of Buckingham in 1703 was later on residence of Queen Charlotte in the regime of King George (1761). At that time this house was named as The Queen House. After Queen Victoria accession to the throne in 1837 the Buckingham Palace finally came under the possession of British Monarchs. Queen Victoria ruled for 64 years. In late 19th century and early 20 century the East front was added. The balcony in East front is used by Royals to interact with the crowd at different occasions.

Palace Buckingham

The spacious Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms in total. There are 19 huge state rooms, 92 offices and 188 staff bedrooms. It also includes 52 grand Royal/guest bedrooms and 78 washrooms. The length of the building is 108 meters, depth 120 meters and height 24 meters.

During the Queen’s visit to Scotland in august and September the state rooms are opened to the visitors. The state rooms that are opened for the visitors include the Throne Room, Green Drawing Room, Silk Tapestry Rooms, Picture Gallery, State Dining Room, Blue Drawing Room, Music Room and White Drawing Room. The Queen Gallery is another compelling part of the palace that can be visited. It exhibits the Royal art work. The people enjoy visiting palace’s stables, the Royal Mews with several the Royal horse-drawn carriages.

The attractions of Buckingham Palace include The Queen Victoria Memorial (located in front of the building), The Garden and nearby located St. James’s Park. The Garden is also known as the “walled oasis in the middle of London”. The Queen Victoria Memorial was built in 1911. The colors are added to the garden by 350 divergent species of wild flowers.

The Changing of the Guard Ceremony is another appealing feature. It takes place at 11 am daily with New Guard marching on the beat of military band, towards the Forecourt of Buckingham Palace and replacing the Old Guard.

Buckingham Palace is residing place of the British monarchy, a splendid art gallery and tourist attraction. The Buckingham palace opens mostly from 2nd August – 28th September. A typical Buckingham palace visit takes 2 hours. The visit to Buckingham Palace is highly recommended.